Hyundai Hysco President Shin Seong-jae was awarded the Order of Industrial Service Merit, Silver Tower, in recognition for normalizing the troubled Hanbo Steel that Hyundai Hysco acquired and for building infrastructure to produce 2 million tons of steel products per year in a short period of time. 

Shin was among the 24 individuals who were presented with orders and other awards in recognition of their contributions to the development of the domestic steel industry during a ceremony celebrating the 13th anniversary of Steel Day, organized by the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA) at the POSCO Center on June 9.

Approximately 300 people attended an official ceremony to enhance public awareness toward steel on the occasion of Steel Day. Among those on hand at the event were Vice Minister of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) Yoon Sang-jik; POSCO Chairman Chung Joon-yang, concurrently KOSA chairman; Hyundai Steel Vice Chairman Park Seung-ha; Dongkuk Steel Chairman Chang Sae-ju; Dongbu Steel Vice Chairman Lee Jong-keun; Daewoo International Vice Chairman Lee Dong-hui; TCC Steel Chairman Sohn Bong-rak; Simpac Metalloy Chairman Choi Jin-shik; and Hyundai Corp. Vice Chairman Lee Suk-kyu.

The Korean steel industry was praised for its pivotal role in the development of the national economy and its contribution to Korea’s achieving $1 trillion in trade despite external and internal business uncertainties.

In his congratulatory speech Vice MKE Minister Yoon stressed the spillover effects the steel industry has on other upstream and downstream industries, which stood at 4.51, higher than the petrochemical industry at 4.50, the general machinery industry at 2.46, and the automobile industry at 2.22.  

He gave thanks to those in the industry for their contributions to a leap forward in the nation’s manufacturing industries, spearheading shared growth between large- and small-sized companies, and stabilizing a balance between electricity demand and supply.

Yoon called for those in the steel industry to make joint efforts to ensure the resurgence of the Korean steel industry so that they can inherit their predecessors’ achievements by overcoming slumping steel demand and a glut of steel production.

The Order of Industrial Service Merit, Bronze Tower, went to Byun Cheol-kyu, executive vice president of Dongkuk Steel, for his role in the construction of a thick plate steel plant with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons, contributing to easing a thick plate supply-demand imbalance and diversifying its export markets to emerging countries, including Russia, India and Brazil, by expanding technology tie-ups with foreign concerns to churn out quality steel products. 

Meanwhile, the nation’s aggregate steel production was estimated at 1.138 billion tons during the 40-year period between 1973 and April 2012, a 918-fold jump from the 1.24 million tons produced in 1973, according to figures released by KOSA on the occasion of the Steel Day anniversary.

The aggregate steel production during the 40-year period is an equivalent to producing 837.03 million mid-size passenger cars and 68,700 container ships of 8,000-TEUs. 

The nation’s aggregate steel production stood at 1.24 million tons of steel at POSCO’s first steel mill in Pohang churned out during 1973. The figure soared to 100 million tons in 1986, 1 billion tons in 2010, and 1.1 billion tons in 2011. On average, it took about 3.6 years to raise aggregate steel production by 100 million tons and it took about two years to do so in recent years. 

The nation saw its aggregate steel exports soar from 917,000 tons in 1973 to 100 million tons in 1993 and 400 million tons in April 2012. 

KOSA Executive Vice Chairman Oh Il-hwan said, “The local steel industry has consistently expanded steel exports despite its dependence on iron ore and other raw material imports. Aggregate steel exports will surge greatly, if steel products used for automobile and ship exports are counted.”#